BFRO Thermal Imaging

Since the summer of 2006 the BFRO has been acquiring various
high-tech optical devices which extend visual perception in darkness.
These technologies are provided by the chief sponsor of the BFRO -- multimillionaire
Wally
Hersom in Nevada.

Expedition attendees have consistently favored the smaller hand-held
thermal imaging units. In dark forests, when sounds are heard nearby,
thermal imagers allow the user to quickly determine whether a large animal
is close by, and will reveal the exact type of large animal.

Through the eye of a thermal imager, any mammal, large or small, is revealed
as a bright, glowing figure among a dimmer gray-scale background. Many
different mammals have been observed and recorded during the expeditions.
One surprising revelation was the quantity of rodents that traffic through
forests at night -- something which was unseen even with starlight scopes.

At least ten people have observed sasquatches with thermal units (in NC,
VA, OH, KY & CA). In most of those cases, images were not recorded
because the units were not attached to recorders. This has happened most
often when the user was serving as a scout/spotter for the people carrying
the clunkier recorder-attached thermal systems. We consider those non-recorded
observations to be minor victories, rather than missed opportunities.
They are the natural precursors to future victories, where clear thermal
images of sasquatches will be recorded.

Prior to the emphasis on portable configurations, we used both the larger
thermal units and the smaller units in "surveillance mode."
The units were set in a fixed position and allowed to record for hours
through the night. The batch of clips mentioned below were obtained in
surveillance mode. The clips below demonstrate the basic effectiveness
of thermal viewers in dark forests. They also show the heat patterns of
humans in clothes (humans in costumes would reveal the same heat patterns)
compared to actual fur-bearing mammals.

NOTE: The images below were originally (when first posted on this page)
linked to downloadable video files. The links have been disabled for the
time being due to the excessive bandwidth drain caused by these large
files. We still have these video files, of course, and can provide the
links to anyone who has a need or desire to see them.

Madison County, North Carolina, September 2006

Deer walks by and shows no reaction to the surveillance system. The surveillance
system was not de-scented in any way.

Raccoon on Wally trail. This is an uncut clip. It demonstrated the delayed
triggering on the motion-activated DVR. This is why we use both a motion-activated
DVR and a continuous-recording DVR, so as not to miss anything.

Surveillance camera at the Portage camp. The lateral motion of the rabbit
across the screen is what caused the pixel-change-motion-detection-system
to be triggered. The raccoon above only triggered the camera once it was
close enough to the camera to show the lateral motion on the screen. There
was not enough lateral motion to trigger the system when the raccoon was
further down the trail.

California State Park Ranger Robert Leiterman wearing the helmet-cam thermal
system developed by Ernest Fehr. Leiterman spots a black bear leaning against
a tree and peeking out from behind it to look at the expeditioners.

Partially clothed people at the "Green Gate" camp. In the video,
left to right, Don Young, Don's girlfriend, Dave Johnson, and Luke Molloy.

Don is wearing a sleeveless shirt. His girlfriend is wearing tight jeans
and a strapless tank top. Luke is getting dressed behind the vehicle and
is not wearing a shirt. Notice the detail pattern created by clothing.